Monday, January 30, 2017

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

***DISCLAIMER***
The following review is entirely my opinion. If you comment (which I
encourage you to do) be respectful. If you don't agree with my opinion
(or other commenters),
that's fine. To each their own. These reviews
are not meant to be statements of facts or endorsements, I am just
sharing my opinions and my perspective when watching the film and is
not meant to reflect how these films should be viewed. Finally, the
reviews are given on a scale of 0-5. 0, of course, being
unwatchable. 1, being terrible. 2, being not great. 3, being okay.
4, being great and 5, being epic! And if you enjoy these reviews
feel free to share them and follow the blog or follow me on
Twitter (@RevRonster) for links to my reviews and the occasional
live-Tweet session of the movie I'm watching! There were definitely moments where this movie made me Lima Oscar Lima.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot – 2 out of 5

This movie is one of that I first heard of in a news story—what
the news story was about, I don’t remember but I saw that Tina Fey was in it
and it was based on the true story of a war correspondent and that kinda interested
me.Pretty soon I started to see the
trailer for it over and over again in front of other films that I was watching
and I was pretty much sold on watching it.I love Tina Fey and the added benefit of having Margot Robbie and Martin
Freeman in the cast of this comedy felt promising.So, what was ultimately missing from Whiskey Tango Foxtrot that I initially thought was going to be a home run film?

It wasn't because of Tina Fey. She can do no wrong in my book!

Based on the memoir The Taliban Shuffle:Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the
film centers on a bored journalist in a go-nowhere position named Kim Baker
(Tina Fey).When her office offers her
up the chance, she takes the leap and decides to take an assignment as a war correspondent
in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom.She’s quickly learns that she might be in
over her head thanks to culture shock and the daunting and seemingly unrewarding
nature of the work.However, she
struggles to make this worthwhile as she gets to know her fellow reporters and
tries to keep her personal life from being flipped upside down.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot has some glimmers of a film that I
enjoyed but was, honestly, a bit bored with the whole thing.One sad element of the entire film is how
misguided its marketing was.The trailer
sold the film as a light-hearted war-time comedy but the feature was really
anything but.Sure, there is some
comedic elements to the film and I definitely found these moments amusing but,
at its heart, the movie is very much a drama that dissects journalism in a war
torn landscape as well as how different the cultures are when American is
thrown into Afghanistan to do a job.

I admire how the film didn't turn these differences in culture into bad jokes.Lesser films would have done so.

There are times when this drama worked very well and I
enjoyed the commentary the feature was making on the job of journalism and the
struggle of a woman in the business.The
problem that ending up harming this element of the film is how unfocused the
entire plot felt and how the running length felt too long.The whole movie felt like an exploration of
little moments in Baker’s time in Afghanistan rather than an unfolding story
with a beginning, middle and an end.The
entire time I watched the film I never felt like there was really an
underlining story taking place beyond just a reporter having some adventures in
a war-torn land.This ended up making
the already slightly long length of just under 2 hours feel even longer.Overall, it just felt like there was no
direction nor an end point in mind for the film as supporting characters are
rarely developed well and plot progression felt a bit jumpy.

The plot was a bit chaotic...kind of like a battle situation. Eh? Eh?

It's kinda hard to not like Martin Freeman.

Although I do admit that WTF did bore me, I won’t say the
whole thing was a waste of time.In addition
to the commentary the film is providing about war journalism the film also has
a tremendous cast.Tina Fey is her usual
endearing and charming self and really balances the comedy and the drama of the
role in a way that was a lot better than how the film itself handled that same balance.Additionally, Martin Freeman is terrific as Scottish freelance
photographer Iain MacKelpie, Margot Robbie is entertaining as a BBC correspondent
(who really needed more development, I feel) and Billy Bob Thornton is very
amusing and has some very entertaining scenes with Fey as General Hollanek. Without a doubt, this is one of the film's strongest aspects.

He's looking longingly into the distance and thinking about french fried potaters.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot didn’t end up enthralling me like I
had hoped it would and I ended up finding a film that did drag a lot, didn’t
feel as developed or as focused as it could have been and it made for a product
that kinda bored me.However, there was
still merit in it in the form of its very strong cast and its representation of
journalism and cultures clashing.Overall,
though, it just proved to be not a film for me.

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About Me

I'm a geek, an atheist (who is also an ordained reverend), a peanut butter and jelly enthusiast, a man who shares the same name with a popular character from "Parks & Rec" and feels he can't live up to the awesomeness of the fictional character, was proudly banned from Reddit, an occasional Shakespearean performer, and a stand up comic.
Have any questions, recommendations or wanna share any theories on various movies? Email me at RevRonMovies@gmail.com and I'll talk about them on my new Q&A segment!